Fruits and Seeds
The round gall at the base of the leaf is home to an insect larva.
Virgin's Bower seeds; Clematis
spp.) become fluffy as they mature. Later the individual seeds will break apart and blow to a new destination in the wind.
Showy Yellow Goatsbeard Seedhead; Tragopogon dubius*
These 3-inch seedheads look like giant dandelions.
were found at the Haw Ridge trailhead in early March. The pods have split and lost their seeds.
Copy of Seed barbs
Seedbox; Ludwigia alternifolia)
fruits are small capsules. They usualy have a box-shaped top, thus the name "Seedbox". One of these pods has 5 sides instead of 4, which was a surprise to me. The seeds fall out of the little hole in the top when the wind blows or when the plant is shaken by an animal.
Copy of Foamflower fruit
A sprouting Acorn
Clammy Ground Cherry seed pods
look a lot like little paper Chinese lanterns. A small green, tomato-like fruit is inside the capsule.
Copy of Honey Locust pod1
Butterfly Weed; Asclepias tuberosa
) pods will split open to release fluffy parachute-like seeds.
are dry and brown, not very attractive.
looked like fur when I saw them at the University of Tennessee Arboretum. At first I thought an animal might have been killed there!
are spread by the wind too. They are a favorite food for small birds like Goldfinches. It is common to see these little birds perched atop a thistle flower head. The bird on a Pennsylvania Dutch "Distlefink" is a "thistle finch".
flower will produce many thousands of seeds. If you pick one of these to put in your house, be sure and spray it with a clear varnish or hair spray; the seed heads practically "explode" when they dry!
I'm not sure which flower this Composite seedhead came from, probably a Coreopsis.
Copy of Seeds barbed
Indian Pipes; Monotropa uniflora
) dry and turn brown and point upward. This picture was taken at Frozen Head in late August. I had to use a flash because it was so dark in the woods.
This Sweetgum fruit has already opened and released its small winged seeds. The seeds were in the holes.
This Acorn is sprouting, if it was in a favorable site (preferably not in a parking area as this one was) it could grow into an oak tree. Many acorns never have a chance to sprout, they either get eaten by squirrels, deer, turkeys, bears, or birds or they are eaten from the inside by acorn weevils.
Eastern Hemlock; Tsuga canadensis
) cone These beautiful trees are being attacked by a type of fuzzy white aphid, called a wooly hemlock adelgid. Colditz Cove State Natural Area, where I took this photo, has huge, ancient hemlocks. I hope the adelgids won't attack them. The Smoky Mountains have been attacked and many trees have died.
These Mimosa tree fruits are longer and wider than Redbud fruits. They have huge numbers of pods with several seeds per pod. Fortunately, there is an insect that eats the seeds before ripening (these trees are non-native and can be weedy), so many of the seeds never get a chance to become a new tree. Look for tiny holes in the pods just above the seeds, this is where the adult insect has emerged.
have large "parachutes" for traveling on the wind.
flowers of summer produce lots of round brown seeds in the fall.
are spread by the wind.
spp.)have tiny tufts which work as parachutes to spread them far from the parent plant.
Cattails produce a "gazillion" seeds! Each of the tiny light brown dots at the end of the "parachute" is a seed. Since the chances of a single seed landing in a suitable place, and then growing is so slim, the flowers make loads of seeds to better ensure spreading their genes.
along the trails.
Spanish Needles seeds; Bidens bipinnata
These seeds are a pain to run into, literally! They have two sharp, barbed points that stick into your clothes, a very effective way of spreading the seeds!
are commonly seen in the winter woods.
Common Teasel seedhead; Dipsacus sylvestris
These unusual dried seedheads were once used to "tease" or raise the nap of spun wool in Europe, thus the name teasel.
grow in large brown pods during the summer, they split open and fall to the ground in the fall. Some people carry a buckeye in their pocket for good luck! The nuts are edible to some animals, but are poisonous to people, goats, and cattle.
These may look like dry, brown flowers, but they are actually Tulip Poplar seeds. This one has already lost several of its' seeds. The seeds have a broad wing which helps them twirl in the wind a distance from the tree.
have fluffy white "parachutes", they are relased when the pods open. During World War II children were paid by the government to gather Milkweed down as a substitute for kapok, a bouyant filling used in lifejackets (which grew on islands occupied by the Japanese).
are full of many flat, winged seeds. Sometimes they have a seed-munching caterpillar living inside.
seeds also have large parachutes. The seed pods are long and thin, not to be confused with Common Milkweed.
are white and fluffy. It is common to see them caught in spiderwebs in the fall.
seeds have small hooks on them. It is common to come home from a woodland walk with lots of these little hitchhikers attatched to you socks!
have Velcro(TM)-like hooks that catch in animals' fur and hikers' wool socks.
Lousewort Fruit
contain several seeds. The pods break off and blow in the wind.
I propped this up on a twig so I could photograph it easier. These are very easy to identify because of the leaf-like growth on the Linden twig. I photographed this on the Piney River Trail in Spring City, TN.
These Witch Hazel pods have popped open and thrown their seeds.
Cranesbill Seeds; Geranium carolinianum
The fruits turn black as they ripen; the 5-seeded fruits split and throw the seeds when they dry.
